Animal Rights files a complaint after images of abused piglets: “They act as if it is the most normal thing in the world”

Animal Rights shared images showing how employees of two transport companies roughly tackle young piglets during unloading at a pig farm in Sint-Laureins. The recordings were made on four different days: November 27, December 4 and 11, 2025 and January 29, 2026.

In the images you see how piglets are roughly lifted by their ears or legs and fall from the unloading ramp of the truck. “An employee also catches an escaped piglet by kicking it over hard, after which he holds the animal by its hind leg,” it said.

Forbidden

Van Campenhout not only calls the facts serious and a form of abuse, but also emphasizes that the companies involved are violating the law. “The way these animals are treated is prohibited under the European Transport Regulation,” she says. “These regulations regarding the protection of animals during transport state, among other things, that it is prohibited to hit or kick animals, and to lift them by their ears or legs.”

“On the basis of that legislation, we have filed a complaint with the East Flemish public prosecutor’s office,” says Van Campenhout. “The abuse is clearly visible in the images on different days. Even when the employees realized they were being filmed, nothing changed. A few minutes later they went about their business as usual.”

Complaint

Animal Rights filed a complaint against the pig company and the transport companies and their employees. “We confirm that we received that complaint at the beginning of February,” said a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office. “We will look into this further and will have no comment at this time.”

The two transport companies, one from East and one from West Flanders, do not wish to respond at this time. “We’re not going to say anything about that now,” it sounds.